Strip AIDS U.S.A. [1988] (Random Comics Theatre)

Random Comics Theatre

Strip AIDS U.S.A. [1988]

This is an anthology edited by Trina Robbins, Robert Triptow and Bill Sienkiewicz, published by Last Gasp and inspired by the STRIP AIDS anthology published the previous year in the UK. It was designed to raise funds for an AIDS charity and awareness about the disease.

Most of the pieces were newly created for this book. The notable exception are five pages of syndicated newspaper comics addressing the issue scattered throughout the book, led by Garry Trudeau's Doonesbury.

Obviously this is an artefact of its time, almost always well meaning, so hard to criticize, often strident in a way that's understandable in the context of the time, but sometimes awkward now.

For me the highlight was "Mourning Son", a story set in the world of TALES FROM THE HEART by Cindy Goff, Rafael Nieves and Seitu Hayden, a series based on Goff's experiences as a Peace Corps volunteer in Africa in the early 1980s. Great little story looking at the issues from a different angle from the other stories.  Man, that series really was one of the great unfinished symphonies of 1980s comics...

Too many other things to talk about, and sometimes hard to find them with the lack of a table of contents (this listing is therefore invaluable). A few other highlights were by Howard Cruse, William Messner-Loebs, Alison Bechdel, Gilbert Hernandez and Jaime Hernandez.